Center Art

The Gallery provides a forum for citizens of Monterey, and visitors to Monterey, to celebrate the rich artistic and cultural heritage of the Monterey area. The selected exhibitions highlight the quality and diversity of arts and cultural expression in the Monterey area in order to inform, educate and delight Monterey residents and Monterey Conference Center visitors.

Two Dolphins

1 “TWO DOLPHINS” – 1981

Inlaid Woods • DeAnza Hallway
Patrons: The Bing Crosby Youth Fund
The Maurine Church Coburn Charitable Trust

EMILE NORMAN, was a native Californian who lived and worked in Big Sur since 1950. His work has been exhibited at the DeYoung Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Chicago Art Institute, Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, and the Pasadena Art Institute. Emile died September 24, 2009 in Monterey. 

Paprika

2 “PAPRIKA” – 1978

Silkscreen Air Brush on Velveteen • DeAnza Hallway
Patron: Art Commission Purchase Fund

CORNELIA BREITENBACH is one of this country’s outstanding young “artist-craftsmen.” Her work received many awards, and was seen in exhibitions at Purdue University, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, and the “California Craftsmen” exhibition at the Monterey Museum of Art. She earned early recognition for her experimental textiles based upon her unique manipulation of color in all its permutations of hue and gradations of tone orchestrated into major and subordinate systems of pattern. 

The Emphemral Depths of Aquamarine

3 “THE EPHEMERAL DEPTHS OF AQUAMARINE” – 1977

Acrylic on Canvas/Tryptic • DeAnza Hallway
Patron: Art Commission Purchase Fund

LEONARD HAN is a native of Carmel, he attended Monterey Peninsula College before going to the University of California at Santa Cruz. His work was shown at Merrill and Stevenson Colleges at UC Santa Cruz; in two exhibitions at the Santa Cruz City Library: “Asian Group” in 1976 and “Eight UCSC Artists” in 1977. In 1975, Mr. Han received first place award in the Modern Painting division of the Monterey County Fair. 

Song of the Whales

4 “SONG OF THE WHALES” – 1977

Nickel Plated Aluminum/Mobile Sculpture • DeAnza
Hallway Moblie Suspended from Steinbeck Lobby
Patron: Pebble Beach Corporation

JEROME KIRK After serving in World War II, he received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1951. Kirk’s work set new standards in kinetic sculpture. He has over sixty public and privately owned outdoor sculptures worldwide. Los Angeles Times critic Suzanne Muchnic described Kirk as “a superb technician whose sculptures trigger a contemplative or mesmerized response by their gentle rhythms evocative of quiet music or graceful dance. His art lies in the skillful orchestration of forms in motion and in managing technology so well that it seems to disappear.”

Cha No Yu

5 “CHA NO YU” – 1982

Oil on Canvas • Serra Lobby
Patrons: Mr. and Mrs. William Borland

JOHN BOIT MORSE, born in 1911, was the son of Samuel Morse, builder of Pebble Beach Resorts, on the Monterey Peninsula. A former Madison Avenue advertising executive, he unexpectedly quit in 1953 in order to become an artist. He took abundant joy in his work with a sincere interest in the artistic life of the Monterey Peninsula. Although he lived and traveled throughout the world, most of his life was spent in the Monterey area where he contributed to the community’s civic and cultural activities. He had many solo exhibitions, with his work in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States. He died in 1988.

Welcome Coast

6 “WELCOME COAST” – 1977

Wool Tapestry • Serra Lobby
Patrons: Old Monterey Bicentennial Committee

LE ROY WILCE was born September 12, 1939 in Upstate New York. After teaching three years at North Texas State University, he made his living for many years as a textile designer living in California. He worked as an artist in various media for over 20 years prior to devoting himself full time to his tapestry work, getting major textile commissions for hotels such as the Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Union Square, San Francisco, and the Atlanta Hilton. Mr. Wilce achieves a subtlety of color in his tapestries, which is the result of special techniques he developed for hand-dying all of the wools he used. Wilce passed away July 12, 1999 at the age of 59.

SERIFOS - Thrown Drapery

7 “SERIFOS – Thrown Drapery” – 1970

Oil on Canvas • Alvarado Gallery – Mezzanine
Patron: Art Commission Purchase Fund

DAVID LIGARE was born in 1945 in Oak Park, Illinois. He received his formal artistic training at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. His work has received national recognition. In the midst of his “Thrown Drapery” series, he was commissioned to do a painting for the Monterey Conference Center collection. “SERIFOS,” a drapery caught in motion at the moment of unfolding, expresses his desire to achieve the “feeling of a breath being drawn.” His paintings are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Jose Museum of Art, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, and ThyssenBornemisza Museum of Art, Madrid.

Sky Window

8 “SKY WINDOW” – 1983

Oil on Canvas • Steinbeck Lobby
Patron: Art Commission Purchase Fund

JIM ALFORD born in 1943, he was influenced by the landscape of Laramie, Wyoming, where he grew up, but did not really awaken to art until his graduate studies in geology at the University of Hawaii. His geology degree helped him land a plum job as a ranger at Mount Tamalpais, just north of San Francisco, situating him in the midst of one of this planet’s most extraordinary concentrations of lush, natural beauty where it is possible to hike through ten of the earth’s twelve climate zones in an afternoon. Living and working in nature provided ample inspiration to begin painting the astonishing views around him

John Steinbeck bust

9 “JOHN STEINBECK BUST” – 2001

Bronze • Steinbeck Lobby
Patrons: Colton Hall Museum and Cultural
Art Commission Purchase

JESSE CORSAUT was born in Kansas in 1929. He had a oneman show in Topeka at age 14. He moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 1959. His bronze of John Wayne stood in the White House during the Reagan presidency and in 1993 he was commissioned to create the Presidential Medallion for President Clinton. He also created the bronze bust of marine biologist and John Steinbeck’s best friend and collaborator, Edward F. Ricketts, which is located on Cannery Row at Drake Avenue. His John Steinbeck bronze bust was an approved purchase by the Colton Hall Museum and Cultural Arts Commission on June 24, 2002 to be displayed in the Monterey Conference Center

Jazz Festival

10 “JAZZ FESTIVAL” – 1997

Bronze/Stone • Steinbeck Lobby
Patrons: Colton Hall Museum and Cultural Art
Commission Purchase

ROBERT SCOTT HOLT, born July 25, 1951, in Monterey, was a lifelong resident of Monterey County. He was a metal sculptor and was commissioned to fabricate a sculpture to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the world-famous Monterey Jazz Festival. An identical piece is exhibited in Nanao, Japan, sister city to Monterey. Mr. Holt was a member of the Paisano Club and the Monterey History and Art Association. Holt died in October 1997 in Salinas, California

Up On Lottie Street

11 “WHALE” – 1984

Green Patina/Bronze • Steinbeck Lobby
Patron: Anonymous Donor

DOUGLAS PURDY was born in Long Island, New York in 1940. The child of two artists, Douglas devoted most of his life to sculpture, working in every medium of metal. He grew up in Los Altos Hills, California area and started designing in his parent’s studio while still in grade school. He exhibited professionally for over forty years. He had a successful Gallery in Carmel, California for eighteen years where his sculptures were purchased by collectors from all over the U.S. and overseas. He was a member of the Carmel Art Association, where he met many of the artists he associated with

Whale

12 “UP ON LOTTIE STREET” – 1971

Oil on Canvas • Alvarado Mezzanine – Administrative
Hallway
Patrons: Mr. and Mrs. Will Shaw

WILLIAM RABINOVITCH was born in New London, Connecticut in 1936 and lived on the Monterey Peninsula before moving to New York in the mid-1970s. While in Monterey, he exhibited large paintings at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and lived in a studio on Cannery Row. One-man shows include: Monterey Museum of Art and Triton Museum, San Jose, in 1966. Rabinovitch is an artist in all forms. Rabinovitch states, “The aim of art is to give expression to the inner vision of man, to open the spiritual foundation of life and the world. The paintings with their sound and fury are unleashed with expressionist bravura, demanding attention by way of startling color and primitive exuberance.

Walking Art Tour